The crowd of weary civilians watched in final satisfaction as gray clouds covered the sky, and Geno Arcturus was escorted onto the execution platform, handcuffed. They had won. No longer would this menace to their society rampage around the Bronze Sea. Thank goodness for the Grand Navy, they would think.
Geno himself was smiling. But for what reason? There was nothing to be happy about. He was going to be executed. Killed. There would be no escape from the clutches of Thanatos, he knew. Yet there he smirked as the Navy soldiers drew their blades, ready to behead him.
The rest of the Navy soldiers present tried to ascertain his thoughts. What had he done this time? Did he devise some plan during the execution to fall through their hands again? Gods, were his allies present? They had sealed off all of the exits, and everyone they had screened was a bona-fide civilian.
Geno held his head high. “Mimhere…” he would mutter as he saw the blades. The guards recoiled. What did he just say? Mimhere, like the lost pirate? The one who hid their treasure on the unfindable island in the Dark Sea? But that was just a rumor, right? There’s no way it could be real.
“I’ve got no interest in it anymore… But the one who finds his treasure… Will turn the world upside-down!” the condemned criminal would proclaim to all! The entire crowd began to murmur. What is this guy saying!? Doesn’t he know he’s going to die soon!?
“And I’m sure that day will come… The day someone finds it!” he would add on, his voice booming from his diaphragm. The clouds began to part, as if something above had heard his proclamations and answered fit. Rays of sunshine beamed onto Arcturus’ smirking face.
The admiral who ordered the execution began to shudder. “JUST KILL HIM ALREADY!” he would order frantically. He wanted this fucker dead, that was for sure. “DON’T JUST STAND THERE! KILL HIM!”
The executioners nodded, raising their blades high in the air above Genos’ neck. The criminal breathed in deeply for one last sentence. “MIMHERE ISLAND…” he started. The admiral’s eyes widened in sheer terror as he realized what would happen. “…IS REAL!” His voice echoed and reverberated across the air as Genos accepted his fate.
That final word seemed to last forever, even as the blades fell, severing the damned criminal’s head from his neck. The crowd was silent, their mouths agape in shock and awe. Even the newspaper writers in the crowd stopped, their pen hands frozen on the notebook page as they took in what the criminal had just roared to them all. What had Mimhere left behind on that island? A Sea Curse? Eternal riches? Something else? The answer would lay on the land of Mimhere Island.
Geno Arcturus truly had the last laugh that day—the day the search for Mimhere Island began.